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Emerald Spire 28.0 - Stealing the Drakes' Treasure
Walking back towards the spire, the group returned to the dungeon that had suddenly become much safer than the town they had just left. Their next goal, at the behest of Vibol's plaintive cries, was to rescue Jaquarl from the clutches of the lava drakes on floor ten. Knowing that the heat of the lava was likely to exhaust them again, they first traveled to the twelfth floor to leave much of their gear and armour with the polite robots at the spa where they hoped it would be safe. The bodyless butler Host was surprised and pleased to see them again so soon but was a bit put-out that they were only there to use the day lockers. Regardless, he wished them well in their quest to help their 'friend', and hoped that they would consider the plight of the spa attendants soon. After Amara was given enough time to finish preparing her last spells, they continued on. Deciding that the best course of action might be to walk up the back way from the eleventh floor, the group climbed the numerous stairs back to the sealed door and up the tunnel beyond. Unfortunately, they found the tunnel collapsed: the drakes had apparently brought down the ceiling, separating the two floors with a thick wall of rock. Inconvenienced but not put out, the group used the spire to teleport to floor nine: they would just have to take the front door. Returning to the axis room, the group found it deserted still, though they could hear the gibbering shouts of morlocks echoing down the halls. Sneaking along the long hallway decorated with small, filthy offerings, they noticed a door they had previously ignored. Opening it quietly, they found it blocked with earth, though they reasoned that it must connect with the room beyond the submerged tunnel that led directly to the stairs down. Working quickly, they managed to burrow a small tunnel that they could shuffle through one-by-one. Taking a light, Marin went first, breaking through the wall into the adjacent room. The light startled a pair of morlocks who yelled. Figuring there was nothing for it, Marin jumped through, called for the others to join him, and dashed over to the trap door and blocking it shut underfoot as he punched one of the shocked creatures. The others ran over, keeping the door closed as a group of morlocks struggled to shove it open; the pair in the room were quickly and brutally dealt with. Deciding that their best bet was to just run and hope that the creatures would be deterred by the heat of the next level, Marin and Kormon let Ismail, Vibol and Amara get a head start before they dashed forwards, letting the morlocks surge out behind them. Their gambit was correct: as the temperature increased, more and more of the creatures gave up the chase and by the time they reached the first of the caves, they had no pursuers. Creeping along quickly, the group dashed past the smog elementals still circling one of the lava pools. When they reached the large central room where the spire jutted up among the lava, they just managed to catch sight of one of the dragons lying listlessly in the lava like an alligator in a stream. Discussing their plan, they decided that their best bet was to lure the drakes away, letting part of their group hide and sneak up to the spire while they were distracted. Armed with the warping sigil they could retreat to floor eleven where the bait members would teleport after hopefully escaping to the spire on floor nine; if all went well, they could use the sigil afterwards to teleport in, rescue Jaquarl, and escape. Marin and Kormon volunteered to bait the drakes as they could run much faster than the average person; hopefully, it would be faster than the average drake as well since there was certainly not enough space in these tunnels to allow the drakes to fly. The others hid themselves, praying that the drakes would both follow and pass them by. Taking a rock, Marin hurled it at the partially-submerged face of the floating creature; it found its mark and the dragon bellowed in rage and surprise. Lingering for just a fraction of a second to ensure they had been spotted, the two ran off with the sound of something large pulling itself from the molten rock behind them. As they barreled down the tunnels and into the elementals' room, they heard something else: the second drake emerged roaring as they jumped over the lava river. They did not pause but redoubled their pace, hearing the voices of both drakes behind them speaking in a tongue they didn't understand. The drakes crashed along behind them and they fled up the tunnel towards the morlocks. The sounds of rageful reptiles behind them did not lessen but was eventually joined by the sounds of gibbering creatures before them. A trio of lingering morlocks came into view and hissed threateningly at the intruders. However, they heard the drakes approaching rapidly and turned to flee as well. Unfortunately for them, they were much slower than the adventurers and were overtaken by the drakes; Kormon and Marin could hear screams and bellows, and smell the acrid scent of burning flesh. They did not stop and passed more terrified morlocks on their way who fell to the dragons' wrath. Reaching the floor, the pair jumped over the pit trap at the head of the stairs and dashed into the room beyond. Deciding that prudence was the better part of valor, they wiggled through their recently-made tunnel and destroyed it behind them before running to the spire, bringing themselves immediately to floor eleven. Ismail, Amara and Vibol were already there: they had watched the first drake leave but never saw the second, which led them to hide for a longer period of time before eventually sneaking out and flying over to the spire. They had the sigil to the tenth floor now. Category:Emerald Spire